“So far, Munich has been lacking a shop like this.” Of course, it stands to reason that Antonio Jorke should say that about his own pub. After all, you want to be something special in this city where competition is fierce – especially in the Glockenbachviertel, where Jorke runs the Prosecco Bar together with his partner Yaniv Levi. But Jorke is a little right: a shop like the one at Theklastrasse 1 is actually not that often found in Munich.
No admission, but a dance floor, on which on Saturday evening at around 10 p.m. there is a mood that some clubs can only dream of all night long. No table service, but generous seats for those who don’t feel like dancing or who need a break from the action on the dance floor – the Prosecco Bar is a bit of both a bar and a club.
Jorke and Levi opened the Prosecco Bar this summer. Actually, one should rather say: reopened. Because the Prosecco Bar, once a legendary gay and hit bar, where Freddie Mercury is said to have stopped off when he visits Munich, has actually been around forever. But after Jorke and Levi took over the shop, a lot has changed.
The highlight of the new store is the mirrored ceiling, which makes the rather small room appear much more spacious than it actually is and is also suitable as a good photo motif.
The highlights of the Prosecco Bar are the disco ball and the mirrored ceiling.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Jorke and Levi wanted to make the bar, previously intended more as a safe space for the scene with taped window panes and a rather non-queer audience, open to everyone, whether gay, lesbian, trans or straight. “Fortunately, we no longer need to hide,” says Jorke. That’s why the window panes are no longer barricaded, and anyone who walks by can witness the goings-on inside. “I want people to see that there is a party in here,” explains Jorke. “We want to be a place where everyone can have fun.”
This concept, which is simple in itself, seems to be working. Since the re-opening in August, the shop has actually been full every evening, says Jorke, Corona or not. Maybe it’s because of the music, a pretty unspectacular mix of charts that you don’t have to like, but that everyone can sing along to. And unlike in so many other shops that play the same music, the guests here do the same.
But maybe that’s also due to the specials: Every Thursday there is alternating hit and girls evenings or drag bingo, the focus of which is of course on the drag queens, but which, like everything else in the Prosecco Bar, is open to everyone. This package attracts a diverse mix of guests: between 25 and 50 there is just about everything, guys in daring leather outfits, shirt-wearers, students. “It’s very colorful here,” says Jorke.
The formerly masked windows now allow a view outwards – and inwards.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
The drink prices in the Prosecco Bar are in the Munich average. The 0.33 beer from the bottle is available for 3.50 euros, the gin and tonic costs 9.50 euros, and the other long drinks are also around ten euros. And when you consider that you can dance for it until four o’clock and, unlike in the club, save the entrance fee, that’s absolutely fine.
On top of that, the bouncer has the most curious stories from almost 20 years in the security industry. And because they are presented in a really entertaining way, that’s definitely a reason to stop by the Prosecco Bar.